55

grande ronde
indian reservation

BEAVER BOARD INFORMATION

Map of the Grande Ronde Indian Reservation showing lottings - 1887
Photo: Unknown
Indians inhabited Oregon’s inland valleys for thousands of years before Euro-Americans began to arrive in the late 18th Century. In the early 1780s, and again in the 1830s, diseases spread by seafarers and fur trappers swept through Oregon’s valleys killing most of the native population. The opening of the Oregon Trail in the 1840s increased pressure to remove the remaining Indians from their homelands.

In 1856, the U.S. Government created the Grand Ronde Reservation, and in the winter of 1857, federal troops forced the native people to leave their aboriginal lands and march to the reservation.

The Grand Ronde reservation, originally 70,000 acres, was later divided into individual parcels for the Indians, and ‘surplus’ land was sold to non-Indians.

In 1954, the Grand Ronde Tribe was ‘terminated,’ and all but 7 1/2 acres of the Tribe’s land was sold. Termination meant the U.S. Government no longer recognized the Tribe or its people as Indians.

In 1983, after a prolonged and dedicated effort by tribal members and their supporters, the U.S. Government restored the Tribe to federal recognition.

In 1988, Congress re-established a 9,811 acre reservation in the mountains north of Grand Ronde. The Tribe has since acquired additional land, built a community center, and has developed housing, education, health care, and other programs for tribal members. The Tribe has also embarked upon an ambitious economic development program as part of its plan to achieve self-sufficiency

FACT BLOCK

LOCATION:
grande ronde
polk COUNTY

GPS COORDINATES: 45.137339,-123.294426
 
SPONSORED BY:
confederated tribes of the grande ronde

beaver board text CODED AS:
WHITE SUPREMACY ACKNOWLEDGMENT
-
MULTICULTURAL
-
This marker is coded as "acknowledges white supremacy" because it details the administrative programming and decisions that slowly removed the Grande Ronde from their homeland and then slowly dismanting their reservation lands into pieces before proceeding to dimantle their tribal status.
-
This marker recognizes a history of the Grand Ronde reservation and the people who live there that includes pre-settlement, settlement, termination and allotment, as well as resiliency and the fight for renewed federal recognition by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde

56

Great Basin

BEAVER BOARD INFORMATION

Northern Great Basin
Photo: Chetsford
This site marks the northern limit of the Great Basin, a region some six hundred miles long and up to five hundred miles wide.

It began forming 17 million years ago as the result of regional uplift and east west stretching by geologic forces that continue today. This stretching created a pattern of north trending mountain ranges separated by broad flat valleys.

Precipitation that falls within the Great Basin leaves only by evaporation with no outlet to the sea. During the Ice Ages, small lakes in the valley expanded to cover thousands of square miles.

FACT BLOCK

LOCATION:
Buchanan
Harney COUNTY

GPS COORDINATES: 43.64377,-118.62712

OTIC topic:
Geology

beaver board text CODED AS:
no WHITE SUPREMACY ACKNOWLEDGMENT
-
no multicultural information

published online:
september 19, 2011
57

great tsunami of 1700

BEAVER BOARD INFORMATION

Aerial view of Siletz Bay - 1995
Photo: unknown - public domain
During the 18th century, Native American villages occupied the mouths of nearly every stream along this coastline-including here at Siletz Bay. Since native peoples probably had little idea about the relationship between earthquakes and tsunamis, they were taken by surprise in January 1700, when this beach was hit by a devastating tsunami.

References to great flooding and ground shaking events in the oral traditions of many Pacific Northwest coastal tribes are probably the records of this event.

On January 26, 1700, the earth shook violently in the throes of a magnitude 9+ earthquake that occurred along the great offshore fault system called the Cascadia Subduction Zone. From northern California to British Columbia, the ocean floor heaved upward approximately 20 feet, and within 10-30 minutes a giant wave up to 50 feet high reached the shore. The wave probably struck this beach only 20 minutes after the earthquake. Devastating waves from this event continued to strike the entire coastline for several hours, flooding beaches, bays, tidal channels, and marshes.

Today, we know that major earthquakes and tsunamis occur along this segment of the Pacific coast approximately every 200 – 1,000 years – we also know what to do when the earth shakes:

• Protect yourself during the earthquake. After the earthquake, travel immediately inland and uphill along designated Tsunami Evacuation Routes.

• Do not return to the beach or low-lying areas after the first tsunami wave. Dangerous waves may strike for several hours.

• Wait for official notice from authorities that the danger has passed before returning.
For more information about earthquakes and tsunamis contact your local emergency planning office, Oregon Emergency Management, or the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. It is easy to imagine the terror, tremendous loss of life, and destruction that occurred here at Siletz Bay and along this entire coastline in the wake of the great tsunami of 1700.

FACT BLOCK

LOCATION:
Lincoln City
Lincoln COUNTY

GPS COORDINATES:
 44.924779,-124.014412

OTIC topic:
Geology, Natural Disasters

beaver board text CODED AS:
no WHITE SUPREMACY ACKNOWLEDGMENT
-
MULTICULTURAL

published online:
september 19, 2011